Alberto Del Rio - Is He "There" Yet?

[Awesome]

He's being buried on RAW, and it's such a shame. I have NO idea what they're doing with him. He should be feuding with Cena, not R-Truth, who totally sucks. Del Rio is a legitimate top heel in the company and they have him filling a worthless mid-card slot. I honestly couldn't even tell you who he's feuding with...Big Show? What? When was the last time Big Show was relevant...6 years ago?

I actually think what they are doing is good for Del Rio. My guess is Truth is facing Cena as they want to keep the title on Cena. By having him go against Truth and not Del Rio it saves Del Rio losing yet another title match. Where as going over big show, while being boring keeps him looking strong until he faces off with Cena and by that time Cena will have held the title long enough so as it is believable that Del Rio may win; I dont think anyone is expecting Truth to take the title (though I personally want him too).


Anyway, is Del Rio there yet? Not quite. Crowd reactions seem to vary for him and I think he probably needs to be showcased in the way the Miz has been the past year on Raw to get to THAT level.

 

[J-Dogg]

I have always liked Del Rio, always thought he has alot of charisma, was very good in the ring, he's done notable things within WWE since his debut, he's someone who stands out, but he really needs to do something to really be well and truely hated as a heel, whether its a feud or doing something like attacking another superstar in a manner where it would garner him mass heat. But make no mistake about it he's going to be a good main eventer once he wins a world title, because even at that point he could change up his character and it could become darker.

 

[Dagger Dias]

In my opinion, Del Rio was "there" when he was on Smackdown. Raw is Cena's show and it doesn't look like he will lose the belt anytime soon, even though a Summerslam feud against Del Rio is likely. Del Rio was "there" a few months ago after his push because he won the Royal Rumble, got a HUGE push last year, then nearly defeated both Edge and Christian for the World Heavyweight Championship. Now he's on Raw and has not really done anything but cut a few promos. He's fallen some, but has been "there" and can get "there" again, he just needs a few good feuds to solidify him as a main event heel and then get back into the world title scene and get that first title reign.

 

[ULTRASTARZZ]

- If the rumors that Alberto del Rio will battle with John Cena at SummerSlam for the WWE Championship, then we should expect Alberto del Rio to look strong against The Big Show, both in and out of the ring ...

 

[LSN80]

It doesn't have as much to do with Del Rio moving from Smackdown to Raw, but what he's done since making said move. And that's not wrestle. I don't care how good of a talker a wrestler is, but is it too preposterous to suggest that a wrestler actually wrestles once in awhile? And Del Rio has had, by my count, one match since coming over to Raw, the triple threat #1 Contender's match for Over The Limit. Before that and since, I can't recall him donning the gold trunks whatsoever.

I can't attest to whether or not the heat was canned or not when he was on Smackdown, but I can say what got him over somewhat with me. It wasn't the 1,000 vignettes plugging his arrival, it was him facing Smackdown's #2 face and making him tap out his very first night. He started hot, and remained there. He wrestled the top to upper tier faces from the start of his Smackdown run to the end. He began his Raw tenure by sitting in on commentary during a tag team match, wrestled the next week in the #1 Contender's match, and has been involved in an awful quasi-angle with Big Show the last 3 weeks, who hasn't been relevant as a singles wrestler since 2006. That's not exactly starting off hot for an inexperienced, non-veteran wrestler swapping brands. And as I said, it's not so much him swapping brands that has hurt him, it's what he hasn't done since swapping brands that has. Because he drew decent heat on the Raw's he was appearing on before he won the Rumble, and the PPV's he was wrestling on as well. But the key is he was wrestling, or attacking, relevant upper card Superstars. Whether he's destined to be a top of the card superstar is truly too soon to be determined, although I don't see him as a main event heel myself. He's certainly not there yet.

 

[FightOwensFight]

I have to laugh when I hear that moving from Smackdown is what hurt him. There may be some truth to that, but I see it more like he was exposed rather than damaged. The heat he got on Smackdown was all fake. I said that months ago when I went to a Smackdown taping and he got fucking crickets upon his entrance. Him moving to Raw exposed that as it's a live program and now everyone sees what I've been saying for months; despite the IWC's love of everything heel, he is NOT over. No matter how good you think his promos are or how good you think he is in the ring, if the crowd doesn't care, he's not there.

Personally, I just see a upper mid carder in Del Rio anyway. I don't see this superstar everyone else does, I just see another run of the mill heel. His in ring stuff is solid, no doubt about that, but his character is just bland and unoriginal. Seriously, what is he doing that Flair or JBL didn't do 10x better? His only real redeeming quality is his facial expressions which, admittedly, are top notch. But there's more to being a good character than that.

So no, I don't think he's there yet. He needs a lot more character development before he can really get to the top of the card.

I have to agree with Nate on this one. The crowd just doesn't seem to react to Del Rio at all. As he said, even on Smackdown! it was a lot of pumped in noise. It is pretty obvious when you hear deafening boos and look in the crowd and nobody is doing anything.

I certainly think he has what it takes to make it to the top, especially with a finisher like his that lends itself very well to playing the injury angle with his oponents. I hate to say this but I could see him somehow getting involved with Mysterio again and play the angle as "I thought I took care of you on Smackdown!, but here you are again, a little cock-a-roach that is still getting in the way of my DESTINY!" They can have good matches together, and with Rey supposedly leaving soon they could write it as Del Rio is the one that retires him for good.

The other thing, as people have mentioned, is the high number of top quality heels on Raw. You have CM Punk, The Miz, and now R-Truth taking the ball and just running like crazy (literally) with it and suddenly Del Rio is lost in the shuffle and picking up the "feud scraps" that has lead to a manufactured program with Big Show.

 

[mr.ready]

Alberto Del Rio really reminds me of the Mexican Version of Attiude Era Jeff Jarrett.

Jeff Jarrett had a grand entrance on a horse everytime he went out to the ring, a personal announcer (Tennessee Lee), a great catchphrase ("Ain't I Great?") and weeks of hype as people within the WWF/E expected him to come right in and be a major star.

However, when the higher brass within the WWF/E figured out that he wasn't getting a reaction and was all style and no substance, his huge push was stalled and he was relegated to feuding with the likes of Vader and March Mero, until falling into oblivion in the bottomless pitt that is/was the Tag Team Division.

I wouldn't be surprised to find Alberto suffer the same fate. The reality is, he just isn't that great. Sure, he's good in the ring, but if it was all about being good in the ring, David Hart Smith would have been headlining Wrestlemania this year, not John Cena.

He's one dimensional, much like a character from the Early 90s, and to no surprise, that was when the WWE was at its worse.

For month at a time, the WWE has been shoving him down our throats every Friday Night and he still hasn't gotten a reaction. But to be fair, no heel from Smackdown has ever gone to RAW and gotten over (Ziggler, MVP, Vickie, Kennedy, etc)

So to answer your question, no he isnt there yet.

 

[CelticCorey]

In all honesty, he WAS there but here are some problems:

It doesn't help that most of the superstars get little no crowd reaction these days.

It doesn't help that he was booked like shit during Wrestlemania season.

And it doesn't help that promos are scripted that he does the same thing every week.

As smart of a businessman Vince is, he sure does some dumb shit sometimes. The last one is definitely an example.